Saver wins Premium Bond jackpot after just two months of waiting

A Surrey saver has become only the 21st Premium Bondholder in the 64-year history of the draw to win the £1million jackpot within the first two months of buying the eligible bond.

The saver turned a £10,000 holding purchased in February into one of the jackpot prizes over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Because Britain’s best-loved savings product must be held for a full month after purchase, last month would have been the first draw his £10,000 chunk would have been entered.

Party time: One Premium Bond saver secured a 9,900% return in just 2 months

The investment was added to an existing haul which meant he now holds £43,590 in total. 

However, the quick-fire win makes for a 9,900 per cent return on the £10,000 purchase, and a 2,194 per cent one on the full holding.

It means the winner from Surrey has become only the ninth Premium Bond saver since 1994 to win one of the two £1million monthly jackpots in the second draw their Bonds were eligible for.

The £1million prize was first introduced in 1994. This was scaled up to two £1million prizes in 2005.

A further 12 have received an even quicker visit from Agent Million, winning at the first attempt.

Of these 21, two have come in the last 12 months, with a saver from Tyne and Wear seeing a £20,000 investment in May 2020 coming good the same July, the first time they could’ve won.

On average, between the June 2020 and May 2021 draws, a millionaire waited 51 months from the date of purchase to their win.

However, there was a huge variety, from the lucky saver who secured a 4,900 per cent return in a month to someone from South Scotland whose patience paid off when a £5,000 holding purchased in March 2003 hit the jackpot last September.

The first time a Bondholder won the jackpot at the first attempt was in September 1994, when a saver from Essex purchased £5,025 worth of Bonds in July. 

It also happened twice in 2018, in March and November.

And one saver from Gloucestershire won at the first attempt in December 1995 with a holding of just £1,026, equating to a return of 99,900 per cent.

The other jackpot winner this month is a man from Wiltshire, who holds £34,000 and bought the lucky number in September 2018, which has left him with a little longer wait.

In total, some £89.8billion worth of prizes were paid out by Treasury backed National Savings & Investments this month in 3.12million prizes. Five savers won £100,000, 10 £50,000, 20 £25,000 and 49 £10,000.

Any individual £1 Bond has 34,500 to one odds of winning any tax-free prize of £25 or above in the monthly draw, with the effective annual rate sitting at 1 per cent. 

With best buy savings rates less than half that at the moment, those despondent at low returns may fancy chancing their arm at the hope of a win, although not everyone will do well, or see returns quite as quickly as this month’s jackpot winner. 

You can check if you’e won using the This is Money tool here.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk